Trouble in Paradise
by Gilraen73051
Summary: Alexis is going on a class trip when the plane crashes. As the survivors wait to be rescued they run into something they would never have expected. What will happen and who will survive?
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize as Tolkien's.

* * *

"Alright, guys. Everyone stay close. James, stop throwing paper." Richard Jones looks around at the students that are spread across the terminal and shakes his head. These kids were good kids but he has the feeling that they will be the death of him before this trip is over. 

The group was on their way to an archeological dig along the Amazon River in South America. Professor Jones was leading the dig and invited his students that were interested, along on the trip. He was very surprised when fifteen students signed up but he suspects that only a few are really interested in archeology. He hopes to change that by the end of their two month trip, however. 

Alexis Stewart is sitting by herself with her nose stuck in a book as usual. She's a bit of a loner, by choice, preferring to read instead of going out like most girls her age. She's an average student and very soft spoken so she often gets over looked but it never seems to bother her. 

"Watch out!" 

Alexis looks up just as a hacky-sac lands in her lap. She picks it up and glares at the guy standing in front of her. 

"Sorry about that," Zach says sheepishly and takes the hacky-sac from her. 

Zach Collins is one of the most popular guys at their school. If his wavy blonde hair, blue eyes and athletic build wasn't enough to catch a girls eye, he was also the captain of the football team and also an all around nice guy. 

"Don't worry about it," Alexis says and returns to reading her book without another word. Zach shrugs and returns to the guys he had been talking too. 

Someone snatches Alexis' book from her hands and she looks up to find Christy Williams standing in front of her. Christy is the captain of the cheerleading squad and thinks that she's better than everyone else because her father is a very successful businessman. She has also taken it upon herself to make Alexis' life a living nightmare. 

"So what are you reading this time? Another one of those trashy novels?" Christy asks as she flips through the pages of the book. 

Alexis reaches for her book but Christy holds it out of her reach. "I don't want to see you talking to Zach again. He's mine." 

"Might want to let him know that," Alexis replies and yanks her book out of Christy's grasp. 

"Leave her alone," Melinda Anderson says from behind Alexis. Christy glances up at Melinda before walking off. 

"Why do you let her treat you like that?" 

Alexis glances up at her and shrugs. Melinda rolls her eyes and sits back down in the chair she's kneeling on. 

The two were far from friends, in fact, Alexis was a little scared of her. Melinda was always in trouble for something whether it was smoking in the girls bathroom or getting into a fight. She had multiple piercings and jet black hair that was streaked with various colors. And the crowd she ran with were some of the biggest troublemakers in school. 

An announcement that their flight is ready to board comes over the loudspeaker and Alexis gathers up her stuff. She gets in line with the rest of her group and waits patiently for her turn to board the plane. James bumps her with his bag as he nervously adjusts it on his shoulder. He turns and gives her an apologetic look. 

"Sorry. I've never flown before. Have you?" 

She smiles at his nervousness. "Yea, a couple of times. It's not that bad," she reassures him. James gives her a nervous smile before turning back around as the line begins to move. 

After making in on the plane Alexis looks out at the busy airport and smiles. Soon she would be rid of the noise of Miami and enjoying the wild Amazon forest. Alexis sits back in her seat and glances around at the other passengers in the economy class compartment. Not far ahead of her was a young couple with a two-year-old little boy and behind her was an elderly couple. There were several other passengers who all looked like businessmen and women but that was about it besides her group. 

The plane begins taxiing out onto the runway and she picks up her book again. Alexis was currently reading 'The Book of Lost Tales 2' by J.R.R. Tolkien. Ever since she read the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy she fell in love with his work and began reading everything of his she could get her hands on. She even learned how to speak Sindarin and Quenya just for the fun of it. 

When Alexis finally looks up from her book a couple of hours later the plane is out over the ocean. She looks around at the others and decides that nothing interesting is going on so she returns her attention to her book. Not two seconds later the plane bucks from turbulance. 

Alexis quickly puts her book away when the seatbelt sign flashes and buckles her seatbelt. Professor Jones calmly reassures everyone that there's nothing to worry about and that it happens all the time. Alexis sighs and looks out her window as she tries to calm her nerves. 

What she sees however does anything but calm her down. What looks like a large fog bank is slowly creaping toward the plane and seeing as how they're over the ocean this wouldn't normally bother her. But this fog was glowing an eerie green and what looks like small lightening bolts race through it. 

"Um, Professor Jones?...Professor," she calls trying to get his attention. She looks back at the strange fog to see that it's almost to them. "Professor Jones!" 

"What is it, Alexis?" he snaps in irritaion at being yelled at. 

"What is that?" Alexis asks worriedly as she points out her window. 

He looks out his window and his face pales. "I, I don't know. I've never seen anything like it." By now everyone is looking out at the strange fog in amazement and fear as the fog envelopes the plane. 

"Aren't we in the Bermuda Triangle?" Zach questions. Just then the lights go out and the plane begins rocking and jerking violently causing everyone to scream. 

Suddenly the plane lurches downward and begins a free fall toward the ocean. Alexis closes her eyes and begins to pray silently as the water rushes toward them. She's violently thrown around in her seat and hears the sickening screams of pain and metal ripping apart before something hits her head, knocking her unconsious. 


	2. What is that!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize as Tolkien's. 

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* * *

Alexis groans at the pain in her head and reaches up only to find someone has bandaged it. She struggles to sit up and looks up when someone helps her. 

"So you're awake then?" Melinda smirks and hands her a bottle of water. 

"Thanks," Alexis says and takes a drink before looking around. "What happened?" 

"Plane went down," Melinda says, stating the obvious. "You were lucky that you got knocked out. I saw everything," she says quietly. 

"The others?" Alexis asks fearfully. 

"Zach, Christy and one of the suits are banged up but they're OK. James' arm is broken. Professor Jones is in really bad shape, something cut into his side pretty deep...everyone else is dead." 

Alexis closes her eyes as tears threaten to spill out of them and Melinda nudges her. "Hey, none of that. We have to stay strong if we're going to get out of this." 

Alexis shakes her head. "You're right. We don't know how long it'll be until they'll find us. We need to figure out what to do." She stands up and almost falls over as a wave of dizziness hits her. 

"Whoa," Melinda says as she catches her. "Maybe you should rest for a while." 

"No. I'm OK," Alexis says and straightens up. She looks at their surroundings in confusion. They appear to be in the middle of a forest. Very little light is able to filter through the trees to the forest floor. Something doesn't feel right about this forest, everything is to quiet. There are no birds singing, no sound of crickets chirping, not even the sound of bugs scurrying through the dried leaves. She unconciously shivers at the sight of this ominous forest and glances over at Melinda. 

"Scares me too," Melinda says as if reading her mind. 

Zach and Christy hurry over to them. "We found a first aide kit and some other stuff we can use," Zach says and turns to look at Alexis. "Are you alright?" 

"Yea." 

They make they're way over to where the Professor is laying. Alexis kneels down to check on him as the other survivors gather firewood. When they return she helps Zach and the business man, who introduced himself as Nick start a fire. 

"Thankfully there's a clear running stream nearby but what are we going to do for food?" Zach asks quietly. 

"We hunt," Nick says pulling a lighter out of his pocket. 

"But with what? We don't have any guns. And we don't have anything to make spears with. Our best bet is to look for nuts and berries," Alexis sighs. 

"I don't know anything about the kinds of berries that are safe to eat," Nick says and looks up from the fire. "Do you?" 

"I do," Alexis states. "Here's what we'll do: Since James' arm is broken he can watch Professor Jones. You two and Christy can work on getting us some shelter and Melinda and I will go and see if we can find any berries." 

Zach looks up at her in surprise and grins. "You're always so quiet in school. Who knew that you were so bossy?" 

"I'm not bossy," Alexis exclaims. "I'm just in my element. I've been going on camping trips since I could walk." 

"I was just teasing. Besides its a good thing someone knows what they're doing because I sure in the heck don't." Zach stands up. "One shelter coming up. Christy," he calls and then begins gathering anything that can be used to make a shelter.

* * *

"Alexis, look at this," Melinda calls. 

Alexis turns and finds Melinda kneeling down and looking at something. She walks over to her and gasps when she sees what Melinda's looking at. Laying on the ground is the broken shaft of what appears to be an arrow. 

Alexis begins crawling around on the ground and brushing fallen leaves aside. 

"What are you doing?" Melinda questions. 

Alexis grins and holds up an arrow head. "Looking for this. Look around, maybe there's more." 

Both girls begin searching through the dead leaves, hoping to find more of the tips. "Do you think we should worry about whoever made these?" Melinda asks suddenly. 

"Nah, they're probably long gone," Alexis reassures her. "But it is strange that they're made of metal." She sits up and thinks about it for a minute before continuing her search. "Oh my God! Look at this," Alexis exclaims and holds up an intricately designed knife. The handle is made of a dark, reddish-brown wood. The blade is shiny as if it had recently been polished and leaves have been etched along the blade. She lightly runs her finger across the edge. "Owe. Damn its as sharp as a razor blade," she says as she presses her thumb against her jeans to stop the bleeding. 

Melinda looks up and sighs. "We better start looking for more berries. It'll get dark soon." 

After they finish gathering enough berries to feed everyone they return to camp. The others have finished building a shelter and have moved Professor Jones into it. The shelter's rough but it'll due to keep them dry if it rains. Alexis tells them about the arrow tip and knife they found and after eating everyone sets about making some spears so that they can hunt.

* * *

Its been two days since the crash and the group is beginning to worry that they will never be found. The good news is that Professor Jones is getting better. When they had found the first aide kit they were able to clean and stitch his wound. Alexis was stuck with that job, the others saying that she should do it since she was the only one that knew how to sew. So after cursing herself for taking home-ec and wretching twice she managed to close his wound. 

Melinda and Christy are busy cooking some fish for everyone to eat when Christy screams. "Spider!" Melinda shrieks wide- eyed as both girls run away from the fire. 

"I never expected you to be scared of a spider Mel," Alexis chuckles. "Just squish it." 

"You squish it," Melinda says as she tosses Alexis a spear. "If you think you can." 

Alexis shakes her head and starts toward the fire. "Where is..." Alexis screams as a giant spider drops to the ground in front of her. This isn't any ordinary spider, no, this spider is about six foot tall and its fangs are dripping with venom. Out of reflex Alexis swings the spear like a baseball bat and the spider shreaks in pain as it rolls across the ground. Fear and adrinalen rushes through her body as she grips the spear and strikes as hard as she can, shoving the tip of the spear into the spiders head. Blood and Alexis doesn't even want to think about what else sprays all over her causing her to gag. 

Shaking with fear she walks back over to the others. "What the hell was that thing?" she shrieks. 

"I think we should worry about how many more of them there are. Where are the others?" Professor Jones asks worriedly. 

"They're at the stream getting water," Melinda says as she eyes the giant spider like it was going to come back to life and eat them. 

Just then the guys make their way back into the camp and Professor Jones and the girls all sigh in relief. 

"Holy shit!" James exclaims when he spots the spider. 

"Exactly. From now on no one leaves this camp alone and without a spear," the professor says. "And I think we should take up watches at night just in case." 

Once they have split up the watch duties and went their seperate ways, Alexis sits next to the Professor. 

"Professor Jones, I know that in situations like this we're supposed to stay put so its easier to find us. But I think as soon as you're able to we should get out of this forest. Its been two days already and we haven't even heard a plane and what if more of those things attack us?" she whispers loudly. 

Professor Jones stares into the fire as he thinks about her words and then sighs. "I agree. We can't wait on being rescued any longer, not with those monsterous things out there. Tomorrow morning we will pack anything that can be of use to us and set out to find away out of here." 

Alexis nods and pokes at the fire before adding some more sticks to keep it going. She stares blankly into the fire for awhile. "Professor?" She turns to face him. "What do you think made those spiders so big?" 

"I've been asking myself the same question," he sighs as he glances over at the dead spider. "You better get some sleep. Tomorrows going to be a long day." 

"Yea, night Professor." Alexis grabs her blanket and lays down next to the fire and closes her eyes. 


	3. Going in Circles?

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize as Tolkien's. 

**Altaria Artanis**: Well Alexis isn't quite the normal girl in some ways. The people she's stuck in ME with know her as a bookworm but they will find out that there's more to her then they know. As for killing the spider it was a mixture of adrenaline and survival instinct. On a side note I absolutly love your story Elanor...I'm ashamed to say that I haven't left a review yet but I usually end up saving it and reading offline. 

**Mel0Yel0#03**: Thanks. And yes I'm in the process of writting the next Chapter of Careful. Sorry for the wait on all my stories but my computer crashed. I'm back now though. :) 

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**Manwathiel**: No worries, I don't see this as a flame at all. Although, your sugestion would place things past tense and I'm writing in present tense to give the readers a feeling of being in the story (Hopefully). 

**roguewriter04**: Thanks. And that's actually what gave me the idea for this one. 

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**When Fire Meets Ice**: I think she was just a little out of it. She'll figure it out. 

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**A/N: Things in bold are spoken in elvish.** And I'm sorry this took so long. My computer quit on me and I had to get it fixed.

* * *

"Professor, we've got everything we could find. Are you sure you're able to do this?" Alexis asks worriedly. 

Professor Jones slowly climbs to his feet and Alexis and James rush over to help him. "I have to. We can't stay here and wait for more of those things to attack us." 

"He's right Al, we'll just take it slow," Nick says handing the professor a spear to use as a walking stick. Alexis sighs and picks up her makeshift pack. Nick helps her slip it onto her shoulders and then pats her on the arm. "He'll be fine." 

Alexis gives him a small smile and turns to look at the others. Zack is helping James slip his pack on without bumping his broken arm and Christy is complaining about, well everything. Melinda is standing off to the side, glaring at Christy like she's ready to throttle her. The professor tells them its time to leave and Alexis looks up at Nick with a hint of worry in her eyes. He reaches out and gives her shoulder a reassuring squeeze before following Professor Jones. 

Alexis and Nick have a lot in common and have grown close the past couple of days. Nick, a 23 year-old college student, is studying to be a lawyer and is stragely enough, going to the same law school that Alexis will be attending next year. He also shares her love for reading and martial arts along with many other things.

* * *

The group has been walking for most of the day and are still deep within the forest as far as they can tell. They stop to rest and Christy sits on a fallen log and huffs. "This is ridiculous. How do we know we're not going in circles?" 

Alexis rolls her eyes but inside she secretly agrees. With the trees blocking their view of the sky they're not able to use the sun to tell what direction they're going. 

Melinda sits next to Alexis and sighs. "I am so sick of her whining. What do you say we gag her so we can all get some peace and quiet?" Melinda whispers and Alexis chuckles. 

"Don't tempt..." 

Christy screams cutting Alexis off abruptly. The two girls look up to find several of those giant spiders closing in around the group. 

"Shit!" Alexis yells and grabs her spear. 

"I think I just did," Melinda replies as she shakes in fear. 

"Now isn't the time to joke around, Mel," Alexis says tossing Melinda a spear. 

"I wasn't," Melinda replies as they back toward the rest of the group. 

The group all stand back to back in a group as five giant spiders surround them. "What do we do now?" James asks but everyone is to scared to answer. 

"Well. Look what we have here," a spider in front of Zach hisses. 

"Holy shit! This fucking mutant spider from hell just talked! It talked! Spiders can't talk!" Zach says in a panic. 

"Zach, now is NOT the time to lose your fricking mind," Nick says through clinched teeth. 

"Yes. They will make a delicious meal," the spider in front of Alexis replies to the first one. Everyone having heard the second spider, steps even closer to each other. 

"Now, wait. Let's talk about this. We don't really taste that good, kinda dry and really sour," James tries reasoning with them. 

"Is that so? Hmmm. I think I'll check for myself," the spider replies and moves in to attack James. Nick reacts quickly and stabs the spider with his spear. It doesn't kill it though, but makes all the spiders extremely angry. 

All five of the spiders attack at once and the small group is barely able to defend themselves. Nick finally manages to kill one of them but doesn't see the one behind him until it's to late. The spider sinks its fanges into his shoulder and he imediately reacts to the poison. 

"Nick!" Alexis screams and tries to get to him but another spider keeps her back. It raises its front legs into the air as it tries to bite her and just as shes about to strike with her spear three arrows come out of nowhere and embed into its head, killing it. Without a second thought as to where the arrows come from she runs to Nick's side and the others soon join her. 

"Nick! Nick, wake up. Wake up and talk to me. Please," Alexis cries. 

The professor places his fingers against Nick's neck to check for a pulse while the others watch in horror. Professor Jones looks up at everyone and shakes his head sadly. "He's gone." 

Zach and James help Alexis to her feet. "Come on Al, we have to go before more of those things come." 

"What! We can't just leave him laying there. We have to at least bury him," she says angrily. 

"We all feel the same way, Al but we don't have anything to dig with," Melinda says sadly as she wraps her arm around Alexis' shoulders and leads her away from Nick's body. 

"** Stop!**" 

The group stops abruptly when they suddenly have arrows pointing at their chests. Alexis looks up wide-eyed at the people in front of them. She counts eight men, who all have long white-blonde hair and...pointed ears? 

"**Who are you and what are you doing here?**" one of the men questions. 

Everyone in the small group looks around in confusion, except for Alexis, who is eying the men in disbelief. '_They're speaking elvish, they have pointed ears like elves, they're dressed like the elves in Lord of the Rings...huge talking spiders...holy shit!!_' Alexis' eyes widen in disbelief. 

"**Do you understand me?**" the same elf asks slightly irritated. 

"**I understand you but my friends do not speak elvish,**" Alexis says softly. The elf snaps his head around to look at her and she continues. "**My name is Alexis and this is Professor Jones, Zach, Melinda, James and Christy. We didn't mean to intrude on your land. We, uh...lost our way and Professor Jones and James were injured.** She glances over her shoulder at Nick's body. "**And our friend, Nick was killed by those spiders**." 

The elf glances over the small group and upon seeing the grief, confusion and fear in their eyes he lowers his bow and motions for the others to lower theirs also. "**I am Gelmir. I am sorry about your friend but you are lucky we found you. We are only out this far because we are looking for one of our soldiers that has disappeared.**" 

Alexis frowns and pulls the knife she found out of her belt. She holds it out for Gelmir to see. "**Was this his?**" 

Gelmir takes the knife from her. "**Yes. Where did you find this?**" 

"**That way I think. Like I said we are lost. We've been walking for the entire day but for all we know we were walking circles. I'm sorry. I wish we could be more help,**" Alexis tells him sadly. 

Gelmir turns to speak with the other elves and Alexis turns to her group. 

"What's going on? Who are they and how do you know their language? I've heard about every language in the world and I've never heard this one before," Professor Jones says quietly. 

"I don't understand any of this so how do I explain it?" Alexis rubs her forehead and sighs. "OK. Some how we have ended up in Middle Earth." Zach opens his mouth to say something but Alexis holds up her hand to stop him. "Don't ask me how because I don't have anymore of a clue than anyone else. Anyway, we are in one of the elven realms. I would guess to say Mirkwood forest, which would explain the six foot tall, talking spiders. The good news is that we don't have to worry about the spiders now that the elves are here. The bad news is that now they will more than likely take us to Mirkwood." 

"Christy looks at her worriedly. "Why is that a bad thing? I saw the movies. Elves are supposed to be friendly." 

Alexis glances over at the elves before continuing. "There is a chance that everything will be fine, but when a group of dwarves found themselves in about the same situation in the Hobbit, King Thranduil imprisoned them." 

They all stop talking and turn to face Gelmir when he approaches them. "**Finrod and I will escort you to Mirkwood and the others will continue looking for Findecáno**," he tells them. 

Alexis inwardly groans and turns to her group. "They're taking us to Mirkwood." 

Professor Jones sighs and then nods, "We don't really have any other choice. We'll just have to risk it and hope that the King is kind to us." 

Alexis turns back to Gelmir. "**Thank you for your help. And I hope they find your friend and that he's alright.**" 

"**Thank you. If you and your friends are ready we will leave now,**" Gelmir says. 

"**We're ready**," Alexis tells him and the group sets off for Mirkwood leaving behind the six elves that set out in the direction Alexis told them they came from. 

Alexis looks back over her shoulder at Nick's lifeless body which is now covered by one of the Elve's cloaks. She begins crying silently as she follows the group through the forest. 

A hand softly lands on her shoulder and she finds Finrod walking next to her. "**I am very sorry for your loss.**" 

"**Thank you.**" 

Finrod nods and removes his hand but continues to walk next to her in a silent gesture of comfort. 


	4. What? I Watched the Movie

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize as Tolkien's.

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**A/N: This is a short chapter and probably a little boring but it explains a couple of important things. It gives a major hint as to the time frame of the story and it introduces Thranduil and his demeanor towards the group. The story will begin to pick up in the next chapter I promise.**

* * *

The group has been walking for a day and a half and everyone is tired. "How much further?" Christy whines. "I'm tired and hungry." 

"Oh shut up Christy! You are not the only one that's tired. Look at Professor Jones and James. They're hurt but do you hear them complaining all the time?" Melinda snaps in irritaion.

The two elves watch them in curiosity before Gelmir turns to Alexis. "**Is everything alright**?"

Alexis chuckles. "**Yes, they just do not get along very well and Christy's whining is getting on Melinda's nerves**."

Gelmir nods. "**Tell your friends that we will reach Mirkwood soon**."

Alexis slows down until she is walking next to the Professor. "Gelmir says that we will reach Mirkwood soon." She notices him holding his side and frowns. "How are you doing?"

Professor Jones sighs, "My side is beginning to throb really bad. I'm afraid that infection is starting to set in."

Alexis reaches up and feels the Professor's forehead and her frown deepens. "You're running a fever."

"I know."

Alexis watches him for a minute before catching up to Gelmir. "**Gelmir, Professor Jones's wound is becoming infected and he's running a fever. How much longer will it take to get to Mirkwood**?"

Gelmir glances over his shoulder to see the Professor favoring his side and frowns. "**We will reach Mirkwood within the hour**." He reaches into a small pack tied to his belt and removes a vial and hands it to her. "**Have him drink this. It will help slow the spread of infection**."

"**Thank you**."

* * *

They are appraoching the palace when they hear an awfull wailing and several elves surrounding a tree. They look like they are trying to coax something out of the tree and Alexis gasps when she see's what it is. "Gollum" she whispers. Suddenly Gollum jumps out of the tree and runs into the woods. "Oh, no." Alexis says fearfully. 

Professor Jones looks over at her. "What? What is it?"

Before Alexis has time to respond large ugly creatures begin pouring out of the forest. "**Run! Run to the palace! Quickly!**" Finrod yells as he draws his bow.

"Run!" Alexis screams as she pulls the Professor toward the palace. The others follow her without question when they realise what is happening.

"**What is the meaning of this?**" an elf demands when they tumble into the palace.

"**Orcs! Orcs are attacking. The guards need help!**" Alexis yells and elves begin to rush outside to fight off the orcs.

"Al," James calls as the Professor begins leaning on him heavily. With James' arm being broken he has trouble supporting him and Zach catches Professor Jones before he falls. Melinda helps Zach lay the Professor on the floor and Alexis kneels next to her unconcious teacher.

"He's burning up," Melinda says and reaches in her bag for a cloth while Alexis uncovers his wound to check it.

An elf kneels next to them. "What happened?"

"He... fell and was pierced by a piece of metal," Alexis says. It wasn't exactly a lie but she didn't feel it would be wise to tell anyone here the full truth. She looks up at the elf and gasps when she sees the crown on his head. "Forgive me, your majestly." Alexis quickly stands and throws a meaningful look at the others as she bows. They all catch on and follow her lead. "We didn't realise who you were," she finishes.

"That is quite alright my child. You were attending to more important matters."

Alexis looks up at him sharply thinking he was being sarcastic but his face shows nothing but concern. He reaches down and picks up the Professor. "He needs a healer quickly. Follow me."

They follow King Thranduil through a maze of hallways before he steps into a room and places the Professor on a bed. An elf imediately rushes over and begins examining Professor Jones as King Thranduil speaks quietly to him. After they're finished talking the King turns to the group. "Calen is the best healer in our realm. Your friend will be well taken care of. Now, if you will forgive me I must speak with the Captains of my army about the attack. I will send someone to show you to a place you may eat and rest until I can speak further with you."

"Of course, your majesty. Thank you," James says and holds his arm as he bows slightly.

King Thranduil frowns. "Are you hurt, child?"

James nods. "I think my arm is broken."

"You will stay and let the healers look after your arm." Thranduil turns towards one of the elves working on the Professor. "**See to this child's arm as well. He fears it could be broken.**"

"**Yes, my lord.**" The elf bows and then leads James to another bed before beginning to examine his arm.

Not long after the King leaves the room a maid comes and leads the remaining members of the group to a large room. The walls are covered in elegant tapestries and several couches and chairs are placed around the room. "**The King has instructed me to bring you something to eat. Please make yourselves comfortable and I will return soon.**"

"**Thank you,**" Alexis smiles and after the maid leaves she turns and tells the others what she said.

"I could get used to this," Christy sighs as she sinks into one of the plush chairs.

Melinda stretches out on one of the couches and grins. "Christy, for once I agree with you."

Alexis makes herself comfortable in one of the other chairs but Zach walks over to the large fireplace and watches the flames dance around. "Well, don't get to comfortable. We could still find ourself in the dungeons if the plane wreckage is found."

Alexis nods in agreement and leans forward in the chair. "He's going to want to know where we're from, where we're going and why we were in his woods. We can't tell him the truth. King Thranduil loves riches and if he finds out we're from another world where our technology is far superior to theirs he will imprison us so that he can keep it for himself."

"So what do we tell him?" Christy asks.

"We tell him that we are from a small human group that lives near the Shire and has no permenant home. We are seeking the Wizard Gandalf the Grey to deliver a message from our ruler about recent attacks around the Shire. We are here because we were fleeing a band of orcs that had attacked us," Zach says and everyone looks at him in surprise. "What?" he shrugs. "I watched the movies."

Alexis chuckles. "That's good but we don't want them to think we lead the orcs that attacked them here. We'll say that we're here because we heard that Gandalf had passed by this realm recently."

Everyone agrees to the story and then drifts off into their own thoughts for a while.

"Do you think Professor Jones will be OK?" Melinda asks softly. The door opens and everyone turns as James enters the room.

"How's your arm?" Alexis asks him as he sits down.

James sighs. "It's broken. And once they found someone I could understand, they assured me that it will be fully healed in about a moon cycle's time. I guess that means about a month," he shrugs.

"How's the Professor," Zack questions and everyone looks at James expectantly.

James smiles softly. "His fever is already starting to come down and they assured me that he would be fine." Everyone finally relaxes a little and they tell him the story they came up with.


	5. Lamalas

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**A/N: Things in bold are spoken in Elvish.** This is a short chapter, I know but it leads into the next which is the Journey to Rivendall (Is that spelled right? I'm to lazy to go look in my LOTR books to make sure.) I tried posting this chapter yesterday but ff wouldn't let me log in so its not my fault it took so long. Blame ff. LOL

* * *

Three hours after James joined the group they were all beginning to wonder if they had been forgotten about when a male elf entered the room. "**King Thranduil wishes to speak with you now**." 

"**Thank you**." Alexis turns to everyone else who is already standing. "Here it goes," she mouths to the others. They all say a silent prayer as they follow the elf out of the room.

They are lead down a series of hallways until the elf stops in front of two large, extravigantly decorated doors. One of the two guards standing at the doors opens them and the group is lead into the throne room. The elf stops in front of the King and bows to him before moving to the side of the room. An elf standing to the right of the King catches Alexis' attention as she bows to the King. She imediatly realizes who he is and is completely surprised that he looks almost exactly like Orlando Bloom did in the movie.

"I have been told that your friend's fever is gone and that he is resting comfortably." King Thranduil says and Alexis returns her attention to him. "And now that the other matters that I had to attend to have been dealt with I have a few questions I would like to ask you."

"Of course, my lord," Zach replies. "We will answer any questions you have. We have nothing to hide."

Thranduil smiles. "Good. First off I would like to know why you were wandering in my realm?"

"We were searching for the wizard known as Gandalf the Grey. We had heard that he had past this way recently and became lost during our search," Alexis answers.

"Yes. He was here not long ago. May I ask why you search for him?" Thranduil questions.

"Our ruler sent us with an urgent message for Gandalf about the increased orc attacks on our people near the Shire." Alexis replies calmly.

"Yes, we have also suffered an increase in attacks as of late." Thranduil looks lost in thought for a minute and glances up at Legolas. "We also have urgent news for him as the creature known as Gollum escaped during the attack you witnessed. I have reason to believe that Gandalf was on his way to Rivendall. I am sending a small party there with news of Gollum's escape if you would like to make the journey with them."

The members of the group all look at each other, silently asking what they should do. Finally Melinda speaks up. "Thank you, but we can't leave Professor Jones behind. We would like to wait until he is able to travel, my lord."

"We are not to leave for another week yet. He should be well enough to travel by then," the prince speaks for the first time during the conversation.

Alexis glances at the others before looking back at the prince and then the king. "Then we will accept your offer. I would also like to say that we are most grateful for your hospitality, my lord."

"You are most welcome, child." The king turns and calls for a maid to show them to the guest rooms. He then turns back to the small group before him. "If there is anything you need during your stay you may ask one of the maids."

They thank the king and then quickly follow the maid out of the throne room.

* * *

The group has been in Mirkwood for four days and Professor Jones is doing much better and is usually found wandering through the palace gardens. The preparations for the journey to Rivendall are mostly complete and each of the group has been given travel clothes and the other necessities they will need along the way. 

Alexis and Melinda are at the training fields watching a friendly archery competion between several of the warriors when Legolas walks up to them. "I am headed to the stables. Would you like to come and choose a horse for your journey?"

The two girls quickly stand to bow but he holds up his hand to stop them. "Do not bow to me. I'm not one for formalities."

Alexis smiles. "We'd love too."

As the two walk along beside Legolas, Melinda nervously leans over and whispers in Alexis' ear. "I'm not that good of a rider. I've only been on a horse twice in my entire life."

Legolas glances over at Melinda and smiles. "Do not worry. I have just the horse for you, Lady Melinda. She is very gentle and patient with novice riders."

Melinda looks at him in surprise and Alexis laughs. "Elves have extremely good hearing, Mel." Alexis gives Melinda a warning look as her laughter dies down.

"Ah, good thing to know," Melinda replies as they near the stables. "Oh, fun. Christy's here," she says in false enthusiasm when they find the rest of their group watching the horses in the corral.

Legolas enters the corral and motions for the others to follow him. Alexis spots a large gray stallion with a white mane and tail standing not far from the group. She starts toward him and Christy snickers. "Leave it to you to feel sorry for the ugliest horse."

The stallions ears lay back against his head and he suddenly charges toward the two. Alexis steps to the side as he stops in front of Christy and rears. Christy screams and stumbles backwards. She trips and lands in the water trough. The stallion shakes his head and whinnies as if he's laughing at her. Everyone in the group bursts out laughing and Legolas fights to hide his amusement as he helps Christy out of the water.

"I found the one I want to ride," Alexis laughs and reaches out to pet him.

"Lady Alexis, he is not for a novice rider." Legolas says stepping forward.

Alexis smiles and scratches the stallion's head. "Prince Legolas, I have been riding horses all my life. Don't worry, I can handle him."

Legolas sighs, "Alright, but on one condition. You have to prove to me that you can handle him first." He motions to one of the stable hands, who comes and leads the stallion into the stable to saddle him.

Christy watches the horse being lead into the stables and grumbles, "I don't like that horse."

"I don't think he likes you much either," James chuckles and Legolas turns and pretends to look at something behind him to hide the grin on his face.

Christy huffs and stalks off toward the palace.

Melinda watches her leave and then turns to everyone else. "That was priceless."

The stable hand comes back out with the stallion and hands Alexis the reins. Alexis grins and jumps into the saddle. She nudges the horse into a slow run and after a couple of times around the corral she slows him down to a walk. "He's not hard to handle. He just wants to go for a good run," she tells Legolas as she reins the stallion to a stop in front of him. "What's his name?"

"Lamalas," Legolas answers.

Alexis grins. "Lamalas, that's a very fitting name for you isn't it?" she smiles as she strokes the horse's neck.

Zack looks up at her in confusion. "What does it mean?"

Alexis slips off the stallion and turns to face Zach. "Fierce Spirit." She looks back at Legolas. "So can I ride him?" she asks hopefully.

"Aye," Legolas smiles. "You can ride him."


	6. Nightmares

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**A/N: Things in bold are spoken in elvish.**

* * *

Alexis and the rest of the group are waiting for Legolas at the stables with the two other elves that will be going. Legolas approaches them followed by two more elves, who are each carrying several weapons. 

"There is a possibility of orc attacks during our journey so my father has requested that each of you be armed for protection," Legolas says when he stops in front of them. "Are any of you skilled with the bow?" 

"I am," Zach replies. Everyone turns and looks at Zach in surprise and he sighs. "I go deer hunting with my dad during bow season." 

Legolas turns to the others. "Are any of you trained in a certain weapon?" 

Most of them shake their heads but look at Alexis in surprise when she speaks up. "I can use a staff, sword and several other weapons but I am more comfortable with double knives like you carry," she says motioning to the knives straped to his back. 

Legolas nods and turns searches through the weapons. He frowns when he doesn't find what he's looking for and then turns to one of the elves behind him. Legolas speaks quietly to the elf, who then quickly returns to the palace. 

"Mahtan is retreiving knives for you," Legolas tells Alexis before handing each of the others a sword. 

Christy looks at the sword he hands her in distaste and Professor Jones nudges her in the side. "Things are different here and that sword just may save your life," he hisses. 

Mahtan returns with the knives and helps Alexis adjust the leather straps that hold the knives on her back. Alexis reaches up and unsheaths the knives. She slices through the air with them as if fighting an invisible opponent before holding them up to look at them. The handles are made of a dark colored wood decorated with gold vines that wrap around the handles. She looks up at Legolas. "These belong to you, don't they?" 

"Aye. A gift from Amras when he first started training me, " Legolas replies. 

Alexis tries to hand the knives to him. "Legolas, I can't..." 

Legolas gently pushes her hands back. "They are yours," he says and turns away from her. "Come it's time to leave." He mounts his horse and everyone else follows suit. 

Alexis sighs and sheaths the knives before mounting Lamalas. She glances around and shakes her head when she notices Mahtan having to help Christy onto her horse. 

Legolas turns in the saddle so he can see the group behind him as they make their way toward the forest. "We will move quickly through the forest so that we do not have to make camp within its borders. Stay close and stay alert."

* * *

The travelers have made camp just outside the forest and Alexis is sitting on her bedroll by the small fire listening to Zach and Christy argue. 

Melinda sits down next to her and sighs in frustration. "What does he see in her? All she does is whine and complain and they're always fighting." 

"Beat's me. Maybe she does things for him others won't. Know what I mean?" Alexis grins and pushes her tongue against the inside of her cheek causing her cheek to puff out. Melinda imediatly realizes what she's talking about and begins laughing. 

The knives on Alexis' back catches Melinda's attention. "Where did you learn how to use those?" she questions. 

James scoots closer to Melinda, having heard her question. "I've been curious about that too." 

"I've been training in Martial Arts since I was about five," Alexis tells them as Legolas sits down next to Alexis. 

"What is Martial Arts?" Legolas asks curiously. 

"It's a term used to describe many forms of similar fighting techiques. Mostly hand to hand but weapons are also used," Alexis explains. 

"So you are a warrior then?" he questions is mild surprise. 

Alexis shakes her head and gives him a small smile. "No. While I have been trained how to fight, I've never actually had to." 

"Ah! How do you get those two to stop arguing?" Círdan asks as he and Gwindor sit down with the small group by the fire. 

Melinda grins. "Here's a phrase you will use with Christy quite often... Shut the hell up." 

Cirdan gives her a confused look. "Shut the hell up? I've never heard that phrase before. What does it mean?" 

Alexis chuckles. "Its a rude way of saying be silent. You say it when you're to the point that if they don't get quiet you're going to do something drastic. It gets the point across." 

Gwindor turns toward the arguing couple and shouts, "Shut the hell up!" His outbusrt causes everyone at the fire to laugh and Christy and Zach to look at him in surprise. 

"Alexis, Melinda, stop corrupting our elvish friends with that harsh language," Professor Jones tiredly calls from his bedroll. "And Zach, you and Christy stop arguing so that we all can get some rest." 

"Sorry Professor," Alexis laughs. "I'm gonna go to sleep. Night guys," she says and lays down. The others continue to talk quietly around her as Alexis drifts to sleep. 

Sometime later that night Alexis' dreams return to the day Nick was killed and she wakes up with a start. Someone crouches next to her and she looks up to see Legolas eyeing her with concern. "Are you alright?" he asks softly. 

Alexis nodds. "Yea. Just a nightmare. Sorry I woke you up." 

Legolas gives her a reassuring smile. "You didn't wake me. It is my watch." 

Alexis sits up and sighs. "Want some company?" 

Legolas stands up and looks down at her. "It will not get light for another hour. You should rest." 

Alexis shakes her head. "I won't be able to get back to sleep. This isn't the first time I've had the nightmare." 

"Then your company would be welcomed," he says and reaches down to help her up. He leads her to a large rock a little ways away from the camp where he had been watching things from. Alexis sits on the rock and leans back to look up at the stars as Legolas sits next to her. "What is it that haunts your sleep?" he asks softly. 

Alexis closes her eyes for a minute and then looks over at him. "My friend Nick's death. We hadn't known each other long but we were becoming close." Alexis looks away from him when she begins to cry. "Every night I see the spider attack him and I see the pain in his..." She sobs harder, unable to continue. 

Legolas pulls her to him and tries to comfort her. "**I'm sorry.**" he whispers. Not knowing what else he can do, Legolas continues to hold her until she falls asleep on his shoulder. He gently picks her up and lays her on her bedroll and covers her up. He then returns to the rock to continue his watch. 


	7. Jealous of What?

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**A/N: Everyone please read the following review. This is to clear up any questions regarding the characters.  
nilimade**: You brought up a great point and I wish to explain myself. Yes they are stereotyped, but it was not meant to offend anyone. I have nothing against cheerleaders, and I got along fine with most of the cheerleaders in my school. But Christy, well she was modeled after the head cheerleader at my school who was a bitch (and went out with the captain of the football team.) As far as the goth "chick", she doesn't hate them all, just Christy, as most of the characters do. In fact her and Alexis have become friends. And you have to admit whether they are sweet or not, people tend to slightly fear those into the goth look. Again no offence to those who are goth (I have several good friends who are.) And in school I WAS the loner to a point. (unfortunately sometimes the real world IS like that.) But as I said I did exagerate the stereotypes and if I offended anyone I am sorry as that was not my intention. Thank you for your review nilimade. I know you were not expecting such a long explanation but I thought I should give you one in fear that I have offended you and others unintentionally.

* * *

Late in the afternoon the groups stops to rest the horses near a stream. Alexis sits against a tree and sighs in contentment, happy that she is able to take a break from riding. She loves horses but after sitting in the saddle for so long her butt was beginning to get sore. 

Alexis laughs softly when James approaches her rubbing his sore bum in a not so discrete manner. He frowns at her obvious amusement of his problem. "It's not funny. No one told me that riding a horse is like getting your ass spanked non-stop!" 

"If you would follow the horse's movements more instead of fighting against it, it wouldn't be so bad," Alexis laughs. 

"Now, you tell me," he huffs and sits next to her. He turns his attention to the stream and Alexis quietly watches as Legolas and Círdan give Zach pointers on using the bow. Gwindor sits down next to her and notices her watching Legolas with a look of awe on her face as he shoots his bow. 

"Legolas is the best archer in all of Mirkwood and even perhaps in all of Middle Earth," Gwindor tells her. 

Alexis smiles and glances at him before returning her attention to the archers. "I have always been fascinated with the bow. One of these days I might even try to learn how to use it," she says absentmindedly. 

Gwindor grins mischievously. "Legolas," he calls out. Legolas turns toward Gwindor curiously. "Lady Alexis expresses interest in learning how to use the bow," Gwindor says and Legolas smiles. 

Alexis looks over at Gwindor wide-eyed and shakes her head. "I didn't mean now," she hisses in embarrassment. 

"There is no better time," Legolas grins as he offers her his hand. Alexis sends Gwindor a death glare before reluctantly slipping her hand into Legolas'. He gently pulls her to her feet and she brushes the dirt off the back of her pants with her free hand as he leads her over to where they were practicing. 

Legolas hands her his bow and she curiously looks it over and then pulls back on the string, surprised at how much strength it actually takes. She takes a stance she had seen Legolas and Zach both take earlier and raises the bow. 

Legolas steps up behind her. "Move your feet further apart," he says and nudges her left foot with his. She moves her foot and he nods. "Good." Legolas then places his hand over hers on the bow. "Do not hold it so tight. Your grip should be firm but not so firm as to hurt your hand." 

Alexis nods and loosens her grip slightly. "Like this?" 

"Aye. Much better." he removes his hand from hers and moves around in front of her. "Now draw back the string." Alexis pulls back the string with three fingers and glances over at him. "You only use two fingers," Legolas says and she removes the third finger. He reaches out and lowers her elbow. "Your arm should be level with you shoulder and your hand next to your ear. This allows you to properly sight your target." 

Alexis lowers the bow and looks over at Legolas when he steps back "Now you are ready to fire an arrow," he says as he pulls an arrow from his quiver. He steps behind her again and reaches around her. He helps her fit the arrow onto the string. She draws back the string and he moves closer to help her aim at the dead tree stump they had been using as a target. 

Christy watches Legolas laugh at something Alexis said as he teaches her how to use the bow and frowns. This wasn't right, he is gorgeous and a prince so why is he wasting his time on someone like Alexis? Sure, she was pretty, Christy couldn't deny that but all she wears are jeans and T-shirts and she never wears make-up. She also always had her nose stuck in some ridiculous book. So, why would any guy spend his time with Alexis when she was so much prettier and more fun to hang out with? 

"Prince Legolas?" Christy calls sweetly from where she is sitting. "I'd like to learn how to use the bow as well," she says when he looks over at her. 

Legolas nods at her. "Very well. I am sure that either Gwindor or Círdan wouldn't mind teaching you." He turns his attention back to Alexis as she releases another arrow and praises her when it hits closer to the center than the previous arrow did. 

Christy stares at him in shock. A guy had never rejected her like that before. Usually they were falling all over themselves trying to get her attention. She crosses her arms and sulks as she glares at Alexis, blaming his rejection on her. Alexis would be the one cast aside before long, she would see to that.

* * *

Legolas motions for the group to stop not long after the sky darkens. "We will rest here for the night." He smiles when he hears the relieved sighs of the weary mortals. "Worry not my friends. We will reach Imladris by mid-day tomorrow." 

Christy dismounts her horse and lets out a cry of pain as she falls into Legolas' arms. "Are you alright?" he questions in an almost bored tone as he supports her weight. 

"I think I twisted my ankle," she replies not catching the tone in his voice. She mentally pats herself on the back as her plan seems to be working. what she didn't count on though is that Zach was also standing nearby. She huffs in irritation when Legolas readily allows Zach to replace him as her support. Zach helps her over to a fallen log and sits her down so that Professor Jones can check her ankle. 

"I'll be fine. I just twisted it wrong," she growls as she watches Legolas approach Alexis. Yet again her attepts to get his attention has failed and she was becoming angry. 

Alexis glances up at Legolas when he sits on the ground beside her with a couple of arrows in his hand. "Is she alright?" 

"Aye. She is fine," he replies undoing the fletching on one of the arrows. 

"Probably hurt her pride more than anything," Melinda adds as she drops to the ground next to them. 

"Aye. Especially since her ankle was not hurt to begin with," Legolas smirks as he repairs the arrow. 

Melinda glances over to where Christy is sitting and nudges Alexis as she begins laughing. Alexis glances over to see Christy glaring hard in their direction and shakes her head. "She pretended to be hurt just to get your attention," Alexis laughs. 

Legolas places the repaired arrow on the ground and picks up the other one. "It was not her first attempt to gain my attention. She has been trying for four days now." 

Melinda looks over at him in amusement. "How did you know what she was doing?" 

Legolas glances up at them before returning his attention to the arrow. "She is not the first maiden to try and catch my eye." 

"Wait a minute!" Melinda exclaims and the other two look up at her curiously. "Did you say she started four days ago?" 

"Aye," Legolas says clearly confused. Alexis gives her the same confused look when she grins mischeivously. 

"She's jealous," Melinda chuckles. Legolas' eyes go wide and he becomes very interested in the arrow he's repairing. Alexis, on the other hand, becomes even more confused. 

"Jealous? Jealous of what?" Alexis questions. 

Melinda looks over at her. "She started flirting with Legolas on the same day he started teaching you how to use the bow. She's jealous of the attention you've been getting from him." 

Alexis rolls her eyes. "Oh good grief! He was just teaching me how to use the bow. He has no interest in me," she says forgetting that Legolas was sitting next to them listening to the whole conversation. 

Legolas glances up at her sharply after her last remark and Melinda snickers at his expression. '_If she only knew,_' Melinda thinks to herself. 


	8. This is all Tolkien's fault!

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* * *

Alexis is startled awake by Gwindor roughly shaking her shoulder. "What? What is it?" she asks groggily. 

"Orcs," he says standing up and shooting his bow. "Wake the others. I must help Legolas and Círdan." She nods and jumps to her feet. Gwindor quickly joins the other elves in fighting off the group of orcs. 

Alexis hastily wakes the others as she notices the fight getting closer to them. By the time they are all awake the fight is right on top of them and Zach pushes the girls toward the stream. He then shoots an arrow at an orc trying to sneek up behind Cirdan. 

"What should we do?" Melinda asks worriedly. 

Alexis watches the fight and feels utterly helpless. "I don't know," she whispers. Alexis watches in horror as an orc creeps up behind Professor Jones and she jumps up without hesitation. "Professor! Look out!" Her warning comes to late, however, and his right shoulder is pierced by an arrow. Not thinking of anything but protecting the now wounded Professor, Alexis draws her knives and jumps into the frey. With adrinaline pumping through her body she doesn't think about anything but cutting down the monster that was now approaching Professor Jones with a sword in his hand. 

After the last of the orcs are dead Alexis realizes what she just did. She looks down at her hands that are covered in the black blood of the orcs and she collapses onto the ground and empties the contents of her stomach. Someone kneels next to her and pulls her hair back before rubbing her back comfortingly. 

She glances up into the sympathetic eyes of Legolas with tears in her eyes. "I, I just killed another living being," she whispers. 

"To save the life of another," Legolas reminds her. "It would have killed Robert if you had not protected him. Remember that and it will ease the pain of taking another's life." 

Alexis nods and stands up with Legolas' help. She looks over at the group that is huddled not far from them. Cirdan is bandaging the Professor's shoulder. James and Melinda are both hugging a hysterical Christy with tears in their eyes. Gwindor is kneeling on the ground but a tree blocks her view of what he is doing. She looks all around the area but when she doesn't see Zach anywhere she slowly looks up at Legolas. 

"Legolas," she chokes back a sob as realization sets in. "Where is Zach?" He sadly looks back at her and she shakes her head. "No!" she shouts. "No." Alexis sinks to her knees and covers her head with her hands as she cries. Legolas kneels next to her and pulls her to him. She wraps her arms around his neck and buries her head in his shoulder. "I'm losing all my friends to this stupid world." 

Alexis pulls away from him when anger settles over her. She turns and glances at the Professor, her gaze landing on his injured shoulder. "This is all Tolkien's fault!" The small group of humans eye her warily and the Professor gives her a warning look. "No! None of us would be here if he hadn't written those damn books! You wouldn't be hurt and Nick and Zach would still be alive," she yells at Professor Jones. 

Professor Jones shakes his head and tells her softly. "We don't know that, Alexis." 

"For all we know, Tolkien could have ended up here just like we did and then somehow got back. What if it wasn't just a story he made up, but something that he experienced?" James says as he glances at the elves who are watching them in confusion. 

Christy looks up hopefully. "If that's true. If he came here and then went back, does that mean there's a chance we can go home too?" 

"Yes," the Professor says. "If he found a way back then there has to be a way. We just have to find it." 

Alexis shakes her head. "You all are forgeting one thing." They all look at her and she continues. "We are in the time that he wrote about, the beginning of it. So if Tolkien ended up here too, then he is here now and you all know how many years the books covered." 

Melinda looks around worriedly. "So we're stuck here?" 

"Come," Cirdan says softly. He's unsure of the meaning of their conversation but he does get that they are unable to get back to their home and he feels bad for them. "It's time to leave." 

Alexis glances up at Legolas, who is already on his horse. He is looking straight in front of him and his eyes are blank of any emotion. Once everyone is ready they set out for Rivendell. Alexis looks back at the horse Gwindor is leading that's carrying Zach's body and she begins to cry silently. 

When they reach Rivendell, Elrond is standing on the main steps waiting for them. "Legolas, it is good to see you again." Elrond greets Gwindor and Cirdan before turning to the small group. "Ah and I see you brought guests from Earth, Legolas," he smiles. 

Legolas scowls at the group before turning to Elrond. "They lost their way and my father offered his hospitality. This is Alexis, Melinda, James, and Professor Robert Jones. We lost Zach when orcs attaked us this morning," Legolas says motioning to the body on the horse. 

"I am sorry for your loss, my friends. Come. I will have someone show you to your rooms where you may clean up and rest. We will also prepare your friend's body for a proper burial," Elrond says and leads the group inside. "Legolas, your room is ready as is Cirdan's and Gwindor's." 

Legolas thanks Lord Elrond and heads to his room without a second glance to the group, however the other two companions say their fairwells before making their way to their rooms. 


	9. Stupid Wizard!

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* * *

"Lord Elrond, may I ask how you know that we're from Earth?" Professor Jones questions and they all look at Elrond curiously. 

Elrond smiles. "You are not the first to come here. There have been many others before you. Come, I would like to introduce you to someone." He leads them through several hallways before stepping out onto a balcony where a man in his mid twenties and a very short old man are sitting and chatting goodnaturedly. 

"Pardon me for interupting but I would like you to meet some other guests." Elrond introduces the men or rather man and hobbit as Bilbo Baggins from the Shire and John Ronald Reuel Tolkien from Earth. Alexis' eyes go wide and she glances at her friends to find they have the same expression on thier faces. 

"Hello," Tolkien smiles. "It's nice to see others from home. What time period are you from? It was 1916 when I arrived here several years ago." 

"We're from 2004," Professor Jones says being the first to gain his voice. 

Tolkien grins. "Interesting. I would like to hear what the world is like in your time, one of these days." 

"You are well known in our time for your writings about..." Alexis motions around her. "All of this." 

Professor Jones massages his temple as if trying to rid himself of a headache. "I don't understand. You said that you have been here for years and from what I can figure, I assume you will be here many more. But I don't recall ever having heard of you disappearing for years or even having disappeared for any time at all." 

Elrond steps forward. "Perhaps I can explain. We have discovered that there must be some sort of portal in your world that is connected to Middle Earth. And when traveling through this portal something causes time for the travelers to stop. While here for hours or even years you will not age and when you return to your world you will return to the same time that you left." 

"So you're saying that even though we are mankind, we could spend one hundred years here and look exactly like we do now? And then return to Earth at the exact moment we left?" James questions in disbelief and Elrond nods. 

Alexis shakes her head and looks over at Tolkien. "That would explain why no one knew you were ever gone." She turns to Elrond and looks up at him sadly. "What about the ones that die here?" 

"Those that die here do not return and it is like they never existed at all," Elrond tells her sympathetically. 

"I just want to go home," Christy says on the verge of tears. 

Melinda sighs. "Me too. I thought this would be an interesting adventure at first but then my friends started dying. This isn't fun anymore." 

The others nod in agreement and Elrond smiles in understanding. "I will have Gandalf make the necessary arangements to return you to your home as soon as possible." 

Two hours later the small group is standing in front of Gandalf on one of the large balconies. Gandalf begins saying a spell in Elvish and the air around the group begins to get thick with fog that starts swirling faster and faster around them. Alexis closes her eyes as she begins to get dizzy. Suddenly the dizziness goes away and the air around her is still. She opens her eyes expecting to be back on the plane but instead she's looking at a confused wizard and the equally confused Lord of Imladris. 

"Why didn't it work?" she questions. 

Neither say anything but give her a sympathetic look at first. Then Gandalf speaks up. "I don't understand why you remained behind. I will try again though." 

"Remained? Behind?" she looks around for her friends as worry begins to set in. "Where are they? Where did they go and why am I still here!" 

"Child, calm down. It will do you no good to get upset. I will do the spell again," Gandalf tells her. He tries the spell again with no success. 

"Why am I still here!" Alexis exclaims as tears come to her eyes. 

"Calm down, I will figure this out," Gandalf sighs. "Until then I'm sure Lord Elrond will be more than happy to let you..." 

"Calm down? I'm stuck here and I should be calm about it!" Alexis screams at him and storms off yelling about stupid wizards. 

Elrond watches with a raised eyebrow as she runs down the hallway and then turns to Gandalf. "I think she took that as well as could be expected. What happened?" 

Gandalf shakes his head and sighs. "I don't know. This has never happened before." 

As Alexis starts into one of the gardens the narrow path is blocked by Legolas who is coming out of the garden. "I thought you were going back to your world," he says coldly. 

"Yea, me too," she snorts and starts around him. 

He reaches out and grabs her arm. "Why did you lie to my father?" he questions and then adds, "and to me?" 

"I'm sorry we lied to you and your father, Legolas. We were afraid of what he would do if we told him the truth. But I can't deal with you right now." she says and tries to pull away from him. 

He grips her arm tighter in anger. "You WILL deal with me now." 

"Owe," she yelps and his grip imediately loosens. She yanks out of his grip and glares at him angrily. "I just found out I'm stuck here," she yells as tears begin to spill out of her eyes. "Two of my friends are dead and the others have gone home. I'm left alone here not knowing if I'll ever get to go home again. So excuse me if I don't feel like inflating your ego by begging for your forgiveness right now." 

Alexis turns and runs into the garden. She sits under a tree in a secluded spot and begins crying over everything that has happened since the plane crash. She feels someone sit next to her and glances up to find Legolas looking at her apologetically. 

"I'm sorry. You're right. I let my pride get in the way and did not see that you were hurting," Legolas says softly and hugs her to him trying to offer what little comfort he could to her. 


	10. The Truth Comes Out

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**:Improtant Author's note: Many thanks to Arami! Arami has brought it to my attention that someone by the name of ElvenPrincesapphire has taken my story Prisoner of the Fellowship change a VERY few things and renamed it 'Broken' and is claiming it as hers. I have reported it to Fanfiction and now am waiting patiently for them to take action. I do not mind if writers are inspired by my ideas and base a story off of them as long as they use their own creative minds to develope the story into something of their own. In fact I would be flattered that they think so much of my idea, but to take a story and post the majority of it WORD for WORD and then call it their own is STEALING. And she wasn't even discrete about it as Prisoner of the Fellowship is in her favorites list on her bio pages so that anyone can see what she has done. I just hope that none of you with stories of your own ever have to experience this as it is not a pleasent feeling to see someone taking credit for something that you have spent so much time on. Again thank you for pointing this out to me! Arami, I would like to use you as a character in my story as a thank you so if you will e-mail me we can talk about the details. :)** I'm sorry this chapter is so short but I wanted to address this issue. The next chapter will actually be the rest of this chapter and may also be short, but after that they will be longer (I hope :) )

* * *

The next morning Alexis leaves her room in search for Legolas. After he found her crying in the garden he hadn't said anything more about their lies to him and his father but she felt he should know the truth. She knew she owed him that after the way his father had taken them in and treated them so well. Alexis only wished that Legolas' father was there so that she could apologize to him as well. 

When she finds Legolas, he is talking with a man with dark brown hair. After taking in his appearance she realises that the man must be Aragorn. Alexis approaches them and they both look up at her. "Legolas, my lord," she greets them. "I'm sorry to interupt." 

The man watches her curiously and Legolas smiles at her. "It's quite alright, Alexis. This is my friend Aragorn. Aragorn, this is Lady Alexis." 

Alexis smiles. "I thought it might be. It's a pleasure to meet you Lord Aragorn. Or would you prefer me to call you Strider?" Aragorn looks surprised at her question so she quickly explains. "It's a long story and I will be more than happy to explain it later if you wish. In fact, that is why I wanted to speak with Legolas." Alexis turns to Legolas. "I owe you an apology and the truth. Will you meet me in the same garden after the morning meal so that I may explain?" 

"Alexis, it is not necessary," Legolas says. 

"Yes, it is. I want you to know the whole truth." Alexis turns to Aragorn. "If you don't have other things you need to do I would like for you to be there as well so that I may explain how I know who you are." 

After they agree to meet Alexis in the garden she leaves them to finish their conversation and makes her way to the dinning hall. Elrond approaches her and guides her toward the head table. "Milord, I'm sorry for the way I acted yesterday." 

Elrond places a hand on her shoulder and smiles. "Think nothing of it. It is very understandable that you were upset. We will find a way to send you back home, Alexis." 

Alexis nods and then looks up at him. "Lord Elrond, you know that Tolkien is from an earlier time period on earth than I am, right?" 

He nods, "Yes, I know this." 

Alexis lowers her voice so that only her is able to hear her. "Then I should tell you that he wrote many books about Middle Earth. Some of these where about the history of the elves and of Middle Earth. One was about Bilbo's adventure with the dwarves. But one of his stories is about what is taking place now and what is to come. It's about the Ring that Frodo carries." 

Elrond looks surprised for a minute and then nods. "Thank you for telling me this." 

"I thought you should know. I don't want you to be suspicious of me and think I'm a spy if I know things," she tells him. 

Elrond nods, "I would like to discuss this with you further but I think Gandalf should be present as well. We will meet after the evening meal in my study." 


	11. Explanations

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My fault: I can't say that I blame her. You not only caused her to lose the respect of her readers but you could have got her into serious trouble. As you have probably guessed I am also very angry at what you did, BUT you did have the courage to admit to what you did and I admire that, not many people would. Therefore I forgive you and maybe in time she will too if she hasn't already. I just hope you have learned from your mistake.

xxxxx

Alexis finishes eating and makes her way to the small garden that her and Legolas sat in the previous evening. She wanders along the path thinking about everything that had happened to her in the past when she runs into Cirdan.

"Lady Alexis," he says in surprise. "I thought you and your friends had went back to your world."

She smiles sadly at him. "We were supposed too. It seems that Gandalf's spell did not work for me though. The others returned to our world but it appears that I am stuck here for the time being."

Cirdan reaches out and touches her arm lightly. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright. Gandalf's looking for a way to get me back but until then I will just enjoy being in Rivendell. I've never seen anything as beautiful as this place," she smiles.

Cirdan looks around and smiles softly. "Aye, one can get lost in it's beauty." He glances over his shoulder and then returns his attention to Alexis. "Someone is coming this way."

"It's probably Legolas and Aragorn. They were going to meet me here to talk," Alexis tells him.

"Then I shall continue my walk. Goodnight, Lady Alexis," Cirdan says with a slight bow.

"Goodnight, Cirdan." She watches him as he walks away singing softly and smiles before turning to greet Legolas and Aragorn.

"Let's sit down, this could take a while." Alexis tells them as she sits on the soft grass under one of the many trees. "Before I start, I have to tell you that my world is completely different than it is here. We have many machines and other inventions that you won't understand and I will probably confuse you even more trying to explain how the work, but I'll try anyway."

She tells them about the trip she was taking with the professor and her classmates and the plane crash and the two of them stayed quiet during her story even though she could tell by the look on their faces that they had questions.

"When you saw the green fog you said that Zach mentioned being in the…Bermuda Triangle? Why would that have anything to do with the strange fog?" Legolas questions curiously.

Alexis chuckles, surprised that out of everything she mentioned he would ask a question about that. "The Bermuda Triangle is a area in my world where mysterious things happen that no one has ever been able to explain. Many machines have acted very strange while inside this area and some ships and planes have even vanished into thin air along with the people inside of them. Some have never been seen or heard from again. The ones that do reappear sometimes reappear in a different place from where they disappeared. And if that isn't strange enough, the people on them don't seem to know what happened and sometimes don't even know that anything did happen."

"It sounds like some sort of evil trickery," Aragorn says.

"Maybe," Alexis replies. "But from what Lord Elrond has told me about others from my world coming here and from what I've been through I think its more like some sort of portal between my world and yours."

Aragorn shakes his head. "It still doesn't explain how you know of me."

Alexis grins, "That's easy. John Tolkien, the man that's friends with Bilbo, is from an earlier time period in my world. He wrote about his time here and the people he met. His books are very popular in my world but they are believed to be just stories told for entertainment."

"He writes about our lives for the amusement of others?" Legolas questions slightly angry.

Alexis shakes her head, "No, Legolas. He didn't write for their amusement. The stories aren't funny at all. His books are about the history of this world and the people that play a part in it."

An elf approaches them and bows before turning to Aragorn. "Lord Elrond asked me to inform you that the halfling is awake, Estel."

"Thank you, Amras," Aragorn replies and turns to Legolas and Alexis. "Until later."

After Aragorn leaves Legolas returns his attention to Alexis. "I would like to hear more of your world."

"Alright," Alexis smiles, "but in return you have to tell me about Mirkwood."

XXXXXXXXX

Alexis had spent most of the morning talking with Legolas, and that afternoon had ended up at the archery fields watching a friendly competition between Aragorn, Legolas and Elrond's twin sons. She wasn't the only one either, it appears as though every female elf in Imaldris had shown up to watch.

"Well, hello Alexis," John Tolkien says as he sits next to her. "I heard about what happened. Don't worry though, Gandalf will find you a way to get back home."

Alexis smiles at him. "I know." Then she sighs, "but I also know that if he doesn't find the way soon I will have to wait for quite a while. Things are about to happen that will be more important than trying to get me back home."

"Oh?" Tolkien looks at her curiously. "And how would you know what will happen?"

She laughs and looks over at him. "You of course, Mr. Tolkien. You are writing about everything that is happening here aren't you?"

"Ah," John nods his head in understanding. "I do get them published."

"Yes, Mr. Tolkien you do and they become more popular than you could imagine," she grins.

"What is this Mr. Tolkien nonsense? I'm only a couple of years older than you. Just call me John."

Alexis chuckles, "Alright John, tell me about your adventure with Bilbo and the dwarves."

The rest of the afternoon is spent listening to John talk about his journey with Bilbo and the Dwarves. When he's finished she laughs, "You do realize that Legolas and his father are still trying to figure out how the dwarves escaped don't you?"

He grins, "Maybe I'll tell Legolas someday."

XXXXX

After dinner that evening while everyone else retires to the Hall of Fire, Alexis, Elrond, and Gandalf go to Elrond's study to discuss her knowledge of what will happen with the ring. They decide that her knowledge should be kept secret even from them, except to confirm or deny what they learn from their foresight. Elrond also allows her permission to sit in on the council after she promises him she will not do anything but watch the proceedings… and a lot of begging.


End file.
